Disclaimer: Nothing's changed since yesterday.

Author's Note: Yay! Simmons is finally awake. She's either been either engulfed in the Monolith or in a coma struggling to survive since the fourth installment of this little series, and here we are, part 21. About time, I'd say. But, and I'm sorry for this, it's far from over. You'll see what I mean if you keep reading...

The Monolith, part 7

He sat by her bedside as she slept. She didn't look a whole lot different than she did a few days ago, maybe with some more color in her cheeks. It was hard to believe that the good news was true, that the coma broke yesterday and she actually woke up briefly. It seemed almost like a cruel joke. He flashed back to yesterday.

His cell phone rang. "Fitz," he answered, not bothering with his fake identity. Very few people had that number.

"It's Coulson," the voice on the other end said.

"Director, um, hi, what...is there something you need from me? What's going on? Is it Simmons?" Cold fear gripped his heart as his mind flashed through all the horrific possibilities.

"She's awake." The two words froze the thoughts, and he temporarily lost the ability to think. Or speak. Or...breathe.

Take a breath, Fitz, he instructed himself. Yes, that's good. Now another.

"Fitz, you still there?" Oh, right. Coulson's still on the line. He should reply to his superior officer.

"Yes, sir," he managed."Just...wrapping my head around it."

"Dr. Streiten said she asked for you," the director told him warmly. "He was the only one around when she woke."

"May I speak with her?"

"She's sleeping now, real sleeping not unconsciousness, Streiten says. She was only awake for a few minutes. She asked for you, we told her you were visiting your mother, and she said that was good."

"That's Simmons for you," he said weakly.

"Anyway, I thought you should know."

"Yes, sir. Thank you, sir." He hung up the phone. "Mum!" he called out.

"What? Did something happen? Are you alright?" She looked startled, and anxious, so he hugged her.

"Fantastic. Simmons...Ariella...Jemma..." he paused, not having figured out yet how to refer to her, "anywho, she's awake!"

"Ah, Leo, that's great," she said with a smile, hugging him back. "Were you able to speak with her?"

"She was sleeping."

"Recovery is exhausting," his mother said knowingly, drawing on her nurse side. He paused, looking a little guilty. "What's going on, Leo?" she asked.

"They said, she asked for me," he said.

His mother smiled. "Go," she told him.

How did she know? he wondered, a little startled. "But I'm not supposed to leave til tomorrow. I was going to spend one more day with you."

"Go. I'm serious. Go be with your twin. And call me, Leo. Tell me about the reunion." She had one of those looks in her eyes, a look he learned a long time ago not to argue with.

He hugged her again. "I will. I promise. Thanks, Mum." He threw his things into his bag, including the snacks he picked up there, and went directly to the airport for the first flight out.

It had been an hour since he'd reached the Playground, and he'd gone straight to her room, his bag on the floor next to him. He cornered Dr. Streiten, who told him that no, she hadn't woken up again, but yes, he was sure the coma had broken and it looked like she would, probably soon. And no, it wasn't a wise idea to wake her. He'd just have to be patient. So he would be.

He pulled a box of Jaffa cakes from his bag and opened it. He meant to save the whole box for Simmons – they were her favorite – but he was hungry and he liked them too. And besides, maybe the smell would wake her up. He was tired of being patient, but he told himself he wouldn't deliberately try to wake her.

He was on his second cake when his ruse worked. Her eyes fluttered, and opened. "Jaffa cakes?" she whispered.

"I brought them for you," he admitted, "but then I got hungry waiting for you to wake up."

"Fitz," she whispered. "You're back. How was your mum?"

He smiled. What a Simmons comment. "Good. How are you?"

"Better. Confused. What happened to me?" His mind blanked in shock. She didn't know!? Fortunately, he was saved trying to explain by the arrival of Dr. Streiten.

"Agent Simmons, I'm glad to see you awake," he greeted her, entering the room.

"Dr. Streiten," she said. "I...you were here, before. But I thought...we couldn't find you."

"You've been quite ill, Agent Simmons. What do you remember?" he asked, bypassing her question.

"I was working on the Monolith. Fitz, you were there. We were going to have dinner. Then, nothing."

"The artifact affected you, Agent Simmons," Dr. Streiten told her gently.

"It ate you," Fitz added, a little more bluntly.

"Ate. How?"

"We don't know," Dr. Streiten told her, with a look at Fitz. "Fitz recovered you, but you've been in a coma since."

"Why?"

"Unknown. The tests are inconclusive. You developed aplastic anemia and needed a stem cell transfusion. After that, you started to get better."

"Want...to see...tests," she managed to get out, but it seemed like she was losing energy.

"When you're stronger," Dr. Streiten assured her. "You should get some rest," he told her, letting himself out but not before shooting a meaningful look at Fitz.

"How long?" she asked, turning to Fitz.

"Nearly three weeks all told," he informed her.

"Three weeks?! Feels like yesterday," she told him, a little breathlessly.

"Dr. Streiten is right. You should get some rest. You've been really sick. Recovery is exhausting, my mum says." He thought about telling her what else his mum told him, but decided it was not the right time. There would be time when she was stronger.

"Fitz," she said, her voice barely a whisper. "Come closer."

He leaned down over the bed. "What?"

"Two things. One, don't eat all my Jaffa cakes."

He smiled. "I won't. I got you tea too, the good stuff."

"And two. If I've been as sick as you said...and I feel it...I don't want to...just in case something happens..."

"Nothing's going to happen," he reassured her.

"I don't want to die without..." and with a surprising amount of strength, given her condition, she pulled his head down the last few inches and kissed him on the mouth.

He froze in shock for a moment, and reared back. "Simmons, we can't," he told her.

She looked at him confused. "I thought...I thought you liked me," she said.

He opened his mouth, to tell her the truth, but just then, several people passed by her open door, including one with a very strange skin color. He turned away from her to look. Skye poked her head in. "Hey guys! Gotta do this, but I'll be back in, like, two seconds."

"Okay," Fitz told her weakly, but she was already gone, walking down the hall with Agent Weaver and four strangers. He took a deep breath and turned back to Simmons, but she had fallen asleep again. He leaned back into his chair. What the bloody hell had just happened? His sister kissed him. Granted, she didn't know that, but still. How was he supposed to tell her now? What was he supposed to do?

He was so wrapped up in the shock of it all, that he hadn't noticed that her eyes flashed a brilliant, electric blue the moment she saw Skye. And Skye, caught up in situating the new people, hadn't noticed either.